Mazboot Budget for Mazboot Nagrik
“यकीन हो तो रास्ता निकलता है, हवा की ओट लेकर भी चिराग जलता है”

It is indeed a Mazboot Budget for Mazboot Nagrik. The maiden budget by first full time lady finance minister has set the tone for the growth of Indian Economy for next 5 years. It seems that day is not far when India will see its peak growth under the regime of very talented, humble and grounded finance minister. From village to cities, youth to old, MSME to Large Caps everyone has been touched in this well sought budget of newly elected government.

As far as a common man is concerned a number of initiatives have been introduced. We cannot just talk about tax benefits but those benefits as well which make life of common man easy. The government has introduced the concept of NCMC Transport card which will cater for all transport needs all across the country be it metros, buses, toll tax etc. Not only it will help in transportation but in case of emergencies, one can withdraw cash from ATM as well with the help of this card. Additional Tax benefit of Rs. 1.5 lakh each for purchase of electric vehicle and affordable house has also been granted. PAN Card shall no more be required for filing of ITR, it can simply be done with the help of Aadhaar Number. Both can now be used inter-changeably. Also a pre-filled income tax return form shall be made available for the Salaried class.

There had been special focus on start-ups in this budget. The Finance minister assured that the issue of angel investor and its investment shall now be resolved. There shall be no scrutiny on start-ups in respect of their valuation by the income tax department.Exemption from capital gains have been introduced where a persons sells his house and invests that money in a start-ups. Further aTV channel specifically for start-ups is set to be introduced which will help them hand holding in relation to fund raising and initial hiccups.

For bigger corporate house tax rate has been reduced from 28% to 25% where the annual turnover does not exceed Rs. 400 crores. Faceless E-assessment system shall be introduced from 2019 where the cases for scrutiny shall be selected from central repository without providing the details of officer to the taxpayer. This will be huge measure to reduce corruption. For super-rich an additional surcharge of 3% to 7% has been introduced in align with the government to reduce income gaps. Also a TDS of 2% has been introduced if one withdraws cash more than Rs. 1 crore in a financial year. This is in lieu to curb cash transactions.

Apart from above various measures such as Social Stock exchange, loan against Corporate bonds, 100% FDIs in various sectors,Government investment in banks, Insurance Schemes for small traders/business units are all meant to increase the inflow of funds in the Indian economy. The additional resources of funds will certainly boost the business activities being carried out in every nook and corner of the country. FM dint even forget visually impaired, she announced introduction of special Rupee coins for them. Even for students New Education Policy to promote Study in India set to roll out. 

Government has brought huge changes as far as indirect taxes are concerned. A Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution Scheme, 2019) has been introduced to square off service tax and central excise matters pending as on 30.06.2019. This is to off-load the burden of Pre-GST litigations from the department as well as from taxpayers. The person can pay 70%/50% of the tax dues where the amount is less than 50 lakhs/more than 50 lakhs respectively. No penalty/late fees shall be charged under this scheme. Further to provide relief to taxpayers and to settle ever going debate, CGST Act 2017 has been amended to provide that interest shall be charged on net cash liability instead of Gross Tax liability under GST. Further GST Act has been changed in order to effect the various taxpayer friendly decisions taken by 35^th GST Council Meeting.

We at KRG Legal feel that this budget is really positive. It not only sets the tone for future growth of our country but also towards more transparent and compliant nation. With lesser interaction with tax officials, transparency is set to increase in the interest of taxpayers. The Legacy scheme/one-time settlement was a demand pending since long which has now been fulfilled. On the similar lines, states must also come out with such scheme. We also feel that this budget is achievable and has been prepared keeping in view the ground realities. We congratulate our Lady Finance Minister for her masterstroke and look forward to more such constructive work in future as well.

“Yakin ho to raasta nikalta hai, hawa ki aut lekar bhi chirag jalta hai”